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nice day for a wet wedding

**::**warning: I'm posting while tipsy. I fully blame my much adored SIL for being such a gracious hostess and refilling my wineglass this evening. Apologies for rambling, spelling errors and bad links.**::**

Yesterday was a big ol' smish of driving and arriving and prepping for the ceremony and celebration. The rain held off until just before the ceremony, at which point it fell with a will for the next twelve hours.

Weather kicks you in the butt like that on your wedding day, you have two choices: weep and wail, or shrug your shoulders and say, "It is what it is." harpiegirl4 and her betrothed chose the latter, and it proved delightful. Sure, the day was damp and grey. The ceremony was held under the tent rather than in the gorgeous grove. There was an honor guard of umbrellas to shield the wedding party, and later to protect those carting crates and coolers of food from the garage to the main tent and the grilling area. By the time the musicians started playing, the ground was utterly saturated: every path into and through the tent was defined by standing water and mud.

But.

The ceremony itself was lovely. There was considerable laughter, there were sentimental tears. There was a nervous, adorable groom and a glowing, gorgeous bride: two people who were delighted to find, torrent or no, they were married at day's end.

The food was delicious. A friend of the bride was responsible for the catering, and she did a phenomenal job. The salads alone were freaking' yumtacular. My sweetie stepped up and, with the wedding organizer's* husband, manned the grill tent (two 'Big John's) for several hours, cooking up platters upon platters of hot dogs, chicken and veggie kebabs, burgers, and chicken breast (with a hastily concocted marinade).

While Don was hard at work, I did my share to bring balance to the universe by hanging out with some of my very favorite people. I'd share pictures, but I'm too vain to let y'all see how tubby I am. Suffice it to say that tomincloset and her husband are beyond gorgeous, screamingdolai and her husband are mad sexy (hey, Kerry? 30's (40's?) starlet makeover soon!). fjordhopper just doesn't age. She's unfairly beautiful as the day I met her, and picoland is just as charming. I can't forget that we've a July hang-out date with Kate and Nate (and you're not on LJ, but Happy First Anniversary!). melebeth must forgive me for wanting to steal her life, as she is beautiful and brilliant and awesome rolled into one. Kristina's a delight and astonishingly gifted. I want her to illustrate my graphic novel. Not that I have one, yet, but I'm willing to write one just to have her art linked to my words. I also plan on stealing her style sense in a wacky, convoluted heist. Just don't tell her. I want it to be a surprise.

We ate and drank and settled around tables underneath an increasingly leaky tent as the night wore on. We drummed (yes, we did!) and sang along (Dougie MacLean!! yay!), we squelched through mud and danced (if you ask nicely, I'll loan my sweetie out for slow dances. he's beyond lovely) and romped in the rain. It was silly and messy and joyous, and while Erika and Cody would, of course, have wanted a dry, warm wedding day, this is what the Gods delivered. And, y'know? it was charming and silly and happy and fun. Years to come, they'll have kick ass stories to share. Best of all: at the end of the day, Cody and Erika were married. To each other. And they'd shared that day with those they loved.

Win!

*The wedding organizer is a woman we met while doing Faire. She was an actress/singer/lovely lady who married an actor/fighter/singer/roguish devil she met her first year in the company. She's freakin' remarkable. Sure, she's talented, gorgeous and sweet, but she's also brilliantly detail oriented. She's served as wedding planner for several friend's weddings. It's borne of love and passion, but also her remarkable ability to juggle all that high pressure, last minute crazy panic OMG what do we do???? with grace and aplomb. Just being around her is soothing. It's delightful to behold. Sort of makes me want to plan a big ol' shindig so I can hire her to work her magic.

Oh, and best moment was at the very end of the night, after the cake had been cut, the band was packing up, and the rain continued to fall and turn the ground beneath our feet to soggy, slushy mud. Under the pretense of 'cleaning up,' we collected the unfinished bottles of wine from the tables, and it was then we spied Maya at long last sitting down, relaxed, eating a piece of wedding cake. Never was cake more well deserved.